Rick Warren writes: ‘If you’ve ever spent time in church, you’ve likely heard the word “salvation” many times. But do you know what that Bible means by salvation? The word is like a diamond; you can look at it from several different angles. Here’s what salvation means:
- Jesus came to rescue us. We can’t solve all of our problems on our own. Without Jesus we’re trapped in the expectations of others. We’re trapped in living for the approval of our peers. We’re trapped in addictions [or bad habits]. We’ve tried to change over and over again, but we don’t have the necessary power to escape. Jesus came to give us that power.
- Jesus came to recover us. We all long to recover parts of our lives that have been lost. Without Christ, we long to recover our strength, our confidence, our reputations, our innocence, and our relationship with God. Only Jesus can do that.
- Jesus came to reconnect us. Many people think that God will scold them if they come back to him… But God isn’t mad at you. He’s mad about you. Jesus came to Earth on the first Christmas to reconcile us to God, to give us harmony with him again.
- Jesus came to Earth to give us the gift of himself. Too many of us celebrate his birthday without accepting this free gift of salvation. It goes unwrapped year after year after year. That’s not smart. You were made by God and for God. Until you understand that, life will never make sense.’
Rick Warren, Daily Hope, 01/12/2017
There is nothing we can do to add to the finished work of the cross. Jesus has done everything that is necessary for our sins to be forgiven and for us to become sons and daughters of God. Trying to earn God’s forgiveness or favour, or trying to add something to what Jesus has accomplished… is like trying to improve a Monet painting by adding some brushstrokes of your own. However much care we take, WE WON’T ONLY not be able to add to the masterpiece: we’ll actually deface it and destroy it.
Explore Bible notes, 18/7/2011
“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
“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”
Martin Luther King (1929-1968)
You may recall that at the cross, just before he died, Jesus cried out, “Tetelestai!” (which means It is done; it is paid, it is finished!) What’s finished; what is done; what’s been paid? The price for our salvation: the payment of our sin… – it is a gift of God, offered freely to all who will accept and receive it. That’s what the Christmas message is about, the gift of God to mankind. But, as with any gift, it only becomes ours if we accept and receive it. Forgiveness and eternal life are not forced or bestowed on us automatically, but they are offered freely to all who will receive. Friends, it’s our call!
R. Ian Seymour
“If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody he’s travelling wrong, then my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring salvation to a world over wrought, if I can spread the message as the Master taught, then my living will not be in vain.”
Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights leader (quote from his sermon preached at Ebenezer Baptist Church in February 1968, two months before he was assassinated).
The kingdom of God has come, and is yet to come; it is here and not yet fully here; it is now and not yet. When we pray for healing and healing happens, we are reminded that the kingdom has come in power now. But sometimes we pray and it doesn’t happen and then we are reminded that the kingdom of God is not yet! – We have to live with this tension. – Sometimes God heals, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes healing is instant, other times we have to persist in prayer before we see breakthrough. But one thing is for certain: the more we pray for healing the more healings happen.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Luther called John 3:16 “the heart of the Bible—the Gospel in miniature.” It’s so simple a child can understand it; yet it condenses the deep and marvellous truths of redemption into these few pungent words:
- “God”…The greatest Lover
- “So loved”…The greatest degree
- “The world”…The greatest number
- “That He gave”…The greatest act
- “His only begotten Son”…The greatest gift
- “That whosoever”…The greatest invitation
- “Believeth”…The greatest simplicity
- “In Him”…The greatest Person
- “Should not perish”…The greatest deliverance
- “But”…The greatest difference
- “Have”…The greatest certainty
- “Everlasting Life”…The greatest possession
God always was, is now and forever shall be in sovereign control over events in His creation. God created it God controls it. But that doesn’t mean that we’re like robots and God causes everything single thing to happen: God doesn’t cause me to sin or to wave my hand in the air. He ordains or allows me to do it, but He doesn’t make me to do. I choose to do that. We are created in God’s image and like God we have the ability to choose: we have free will. So we shouldn’t think of God as a puppet master who pulls all the strings. Rather, He is more like a chess Grandmaster who is able to respond to every move of His opponent, so that the result always achieves what God desires, even when His own will is resisted.
“The apostle, Peter, wrote: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administrating God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10). There are some things that we are good at, or that we could be good at if we just changed our attitude and tried. We were designed with a purpose in mind. God has a plan for each and every one of us. I can’t tell you specifically what God’s plan is for your life, but whatever it is – if you choose to accept it – it will entail using whatever gifts God has given you to serve others and bring glory to Him, and hard though the work may be, you’ll find purpose, fulfilment and enjoyment in it.”
R. I. Seymour.
“Marriage is like a good retirement plan. As long as you keep the deposits flowing, the account grows. The marriage develops like compound interest over time. Small investments of love and nurture reap great dividends in relational happiness.”
Tom L. Eisenman
It is action that counts, not your good intentions. You might very well have a heart of gold but, there again, so does a hard-boiled egg! – Anon.
The ABC of personal growth: Adversity Builds Character.
The saying, ‘attitude is everything’ is incomplete; it should really be ‘a Christ-like attitude is everything’.
Wherever the gospel is preached there is a reaction, similar to the opposite ends of a magnet: some are attracted (they want more) others are repelled (they can’t get away quick enough). And that’s because there is a cosmic conflict going on, a spiritual battle between good and evil, between Christ and the devil. If you feel repelled by Jesus’ teaching, by his church and his people, ask yourself, why do I feel like this?
Charles Spurgeon wrote, ‘We are blessed to have God’s Word always to guide us. Without a compass the mariner would be lost. So would Christians without the Bible. This is the unerring chart in which is described all the channels from the quick sands of destruction to the haven of salvation by one who knows all the way.’
Charles H. Spurgeon, 2000, Morning By Morning, Florida: Bridge-Logos Publishers, (Devotional for September 1st.)
In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back. (That’s why Jesus came.) The Bible’s last scene, like the parable of the lost son, ends in jubilation, the family united once again.
Philip Yancey
Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, 2000, London: Marshall Pickering, p.266
People who don’t change eventually become extinct. Always have done, always will do.
“Even a dead dog can swim with the current.”
Phillip Jensen
Each child is an individual; each child has certain God-given talents and attributes; each child is uniquely special and, as parents, we should do our utmost to protect and nurture that individuality. Listen to the following wise words from Henry Ford (1863-1947), founder of the Ford Motor Company: (Incidentally, the following quote applies equally to girls as well as boys.)
“All Fords are exactly alike but no two men are just alike. Every new life is a new thing under the sun; there has never been anything just like it before, and never will be again. A young man ought to get that idea about himself; he should look for the single spark of individuality that makes him different from other folks, and develop that for all he is worth. Society and schools may try to iron it out of him; their tendency is to put us all in the same mould, but I say don’t let that spark be lost; it’s your only real claim to importance.”
A clean slate, a fresh start and a bright hope:
In a sentence the offer of Christianity is this: Forgiveness for all that is past (a clean slate), new life here for today (a fresh start), and a wonderful bright hope for the future.
The church has been likened to a football match, in which thousands of people desperately in need of exercise watch twenty-two people desperately in need of a rest!
Responsibility has been defined as our response to God’s ability. One of the major problems in the church today, as a whole, is that so few are exercising their spiritual gifts. Church expert Eddie Gibbs once said, “The level of unemployment in the nation pales into insignificance in comparison with that which prevails in the church.”
Source: Nicky Gumbel, Alpha: Questions of Life, p.138
Communication always works best when you are face to face, because a telephone, email or a written note can never smile.
“We need to be as critical of ourselves as we often are of others, and as generous to others as we always are to ourselves.”
John Stott
“Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”
Peter F. Drucker, author and management expert
“People who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of a field in hope that a cow will back up to them.”
Elbert Hubbard, writer
Praise only works with three types of people; men, women and children.
“I studied the lives of great men and famous men, and I found that the men and women who got to the top were those who did the job they had in hand, with everything they had of energy and enthusiasm and hard work.”
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), 33rd American President
We are to share the good news about Jesus because we have discovered it for ourselves and, frankly, it would be selfish to keep it a secret. When a pregnancy or birth, or an engagement or marriage happens in your family, its good news and you don’t keep it to yourself; you share it. On the other hand, imagine discovering the cure for some debilitating, life-threatening disease and keeping it to yourself – how selfish would that be? We have fantastic news for all mankind: As the angel announced to the shepherds at the beginning of Luke’s gospel: “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11 NIV1984).
“Turn failure into fertiliser.”
Denis Waitley, writer and motivational speaker
“God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the reliable ones.”
Oswald Chambers
Faith is belief gone courageous.
“Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then counting your blessings before they hatch.”
attributed to Ramona Carol
“Feed your faith and starve your doubt to death.”
E.C. McKenzie
“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give when unasked, through understanding.” – Kahlil Gibran
We seem to spend so much time talking to God about what we want from him, when the real issue is what He wants from us. Nowhere in the scriptures does God promise to give us what we want. Instead, God gives us what He wants.
A smile is one little curve that sets a lot of things straight.
‘MORNING HAS BROKEN’
Like the first morning;
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them, springing
Fresh from the Word!
Sweet the rain’s new fall
Sunlit from heaven,
Like the first dewfall
On the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness
Of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness
Where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight!
Mine is the morning
Born of the one light
Eden saw play!
Praise with elation,
Praise every morning,
God’s re-creation
Of the new day!
Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965)
What a great blessing to be occupied with joy in your heart.
Nicky Gumbel comments… “I once heard a preacher, who believed that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ended with the apostolic age, being asked the question, ‘Is the Pentecostal movement a move of God?’ – He could not answer the question. To say that ‘it came from God’ would mean recognising the outpouring of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit in our contemporary world. To deny that it came from God would be to deny the experience of over 600 million Christians around the world who have experienced God’s power through the Pentecostal movement.”
Nicky Gumbel: Bible in One Year – Alpha, Day 62
British people are a funny lot. We order a deep pan pizza, garlic bread, deep fried onion rings, large fries, a tub of double chocolate-chip ice-cream… and a DIET COKE! What’s all that about?
“Nothing whets an appetite like the decision to go on a diet.” – Tom Morris, author
Conscience is what hurts when everything else feels so good.
“If you want the rainbow you have got to put up with the rain.”
Dolly Parton (country and western singer, song-writer)
In Asia they have a saying: ‘the fuller the ear is of grain the lower it bends.’
I had the blues because I had no shoes; then upon the street, I met a man who had no feet! (Anon)
Many people think Jesus was just a good moral teacher, a bit like Ghandi perhaps. But when you investigate the person of Jesus you come to realise that the one thing that cannot be said about Him, is that Jesus was just a good moral teacher. He never meant to leave that option open to us. C. S. Lewis in his book, Mere Christianity, wrote:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
C.S. Lewis, 1974, Mere Christianity, London: Fount, p.52
Jesus came promising abundant life, and he hasn’t changed the offer. And part of that abundance is simply ‘fun’. We disciples are encouraged to enjoy ourselves because we enjoy God, the giver of life.
John Pritchard
“True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders. In combat, officers eat last.”
Robert Townsend, management expert and author
“A great leader never sets themselves above their followers except in carrying responsibility.”
attributed to Julie Ormant
“There is a time to hold the gavel and a time to pass it on. More important than plaques on your wall or monuments bearing your name are the hearts which have been touched because you chose to lead with love.”
Neil Eskelin
As a single mother told her teenage daughter: “Grandma was right: Men won’t buy the cow if they can get the milk for free!” – Anon.
“If only we could have our second thoughts first!”
John Maxwell
“Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.”
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer.
“Every noble work is at first impossible.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish essayist and historian
“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.”
B. C. Forbes
Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to move mountains… it just takes one shovel load at a time.
OPPORTUNITY (see also LUCK/GOOD FORTUNE)
“The reason so many people never get anywhere in life is because when opportunity knocks, they are out in the garden looking for four-leafed clovers.”
Walter P. Chrysler (1875-1940), founder of motor company
‘Mohammed, Buddha, Moses, Guru Nanak, Confucius and other great founders of religions were undoubtedly amazing people. They had insight, leadership skills and brought inspiration to thousands of their followers. But none of them ever claimed to personally reveal God. None of them said, “Look at me and you will see God.” There is, however, one exception.’ Jesus.
Source: John Dickson, A Sneaking Suspicion, p.77
“There is a difference between perseverance and obstinacy: one comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won’t.”
Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), U.S. clergyman and leader in the movement for the abolition of slavery
“Jesus isn’t praying for us; He is interceding for us so we can pray. That is what is meant by asking ‘in His name.’”
Dutch Sheets
Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer , p.39.
Life is fragile – handle with prayer.
When God doesn’t give us answers to our questions it’s because He is training us to trust him.
If your troubles are deep seated and of long standing, try kneeling! (Anon.)
The Bible is remarkable in the way it is happy to show the weaknesses of its “heroes”. That is true throughout the Old Testament as well as the New. No one is in any doubt that Noah, Moses, David, Solomon, Peter and Paul are great men, who are also moral failures. – And that’s because God’s book wants us to know that He alone is the hero.
Explore Bible notes, 20/12/2012
A definition of calling: God’s personal invitation for me to work on His agenda, using the talents I’ve been given in ways that are eternally significant.
Produced by the team at Life@Work magazine and cited in The Catalyst Leader, by Brad Lomenick, 2013, Nashville: Thomas Nelson publishers
Ronald Dunn writes: ‘God is more anxious for us to know His will than we are. When someone asks me, “How do I find God’s will?” my answer is you don’t. God’s will finds you. It is not your responsibility to find or discover the will of God. If God wants you to know His will, it is His responsibility to reveal it – and reveal it in a way you can’t miss it. – Suppose I tell my daughter, Kimberly, that I have something I want her to do for me. She says she will and asks me what it is. “I am not going to tell you,” I say. “You have to figure it out on your own. And if you figure wrong, you’re in trouble.” – Ridiculous, isn’t it? If I have a task for my child, it is my responsibility to reveal it. Her responsibility is to hear and obey.’
Ronald Dunn, (Source: Don’t Just Stand There… Pray Something , p.200
“The standards of lifestyle set by Jesus are very high. Christian leader, John Wimber put it like this: ‘Jesus is insatiable. Everything we do pleases him but nothing satisfies him. I have been satisfied with Jesus. He has not been satisfied with me. He keeps raising the standards. He walks in high places. He is generous but uncompromising in his call.’”
Quoted by Nicky Gumbel in The Jesus Lifestyle, 2010, London: Alpha International, p.10
‘Science is unable to tell us why the universe came into being. Science is unable to explain why there are scientific or natural laws, or why they are so consistent and dependable. Science cannot explain why the universe is so amazingly fine-tuned to support intelligent life on our planet. Science can tell us nothing about why the mind exists and functions as it does. Science cannot define or explain ethical principles. Science is not able to answer life’s deepest questions.’ – John Blanchard
Source: John Blanchard (blurb from his book, Has Science Got Rid of God?)
If we see our gifts and talents as a means of self-fulfilment we have missed their main purpose. Personal fulfilment is a by-product of service and worship.
Mark Batterson writes: “It’s the sins of omission – what you would have, could have, and should have done – that break the heart of your heavenly Father. How do I know this? Because I am an earthly father! I love it when my kids don’t do something wrong, but I love it even more when they do something right.”
Mark Batterson, Going All In, 2013, Michigan USA, Zondervan, p.41
According to the biblical worldview behind all the evil in the world lies the devil. The Greek work for devil, diablos, translates the Hebrew word Satan. We are not told very much about the origins of Satan in the Bible. There is a hint that he may have been a fallen angel (Isaiah 14:12-23). He appears on a few occasions in the books of the Old Testament (Job 1; 1Chronicles 21:1). He is not merely a force but is personal. We are given a clearer picture of his activities in the New Testament. The devil is a personal spiritual being, who is in open rebellion against God and has the leadership of many demons like himself. Paul tells us to take our ‘stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Ephesians 6:11-12). The devil and his angels, according to Paul, are not to be underestimated. They are cunning. They are powerful. They are evil. Therefore we should not be surprised when we come under a powerful assault from the enemy.
Nicky Gumbel
Nicky Gumbel, Alpha Questions of Life, 2007, Eastbourne: Kingsway Communications, p.158
People ask, if God is real why does he allow natural disasters and untold suffering or evil to exist? There is no short answer. We live in a fallen world – fallen from God’s grace because of man’s sin. Adam’s sinful act of disobedience affected Creation and now Creation is out of kilter. The earth is under a curse. God said to Adam (Genesis 3:17) “Cursed is the ground because of you.” This is the greatest environmental disaster that has ever happened. The world we know is not the place it was originally created to be… earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts, floods, wars, famines, disease, epidemics… when God finished making the earth it was a good creation (Genesis 1:31). But today it is a groaning creation, filled with suffering, death and pain. All of this is a result of Adam’s sin. Creation is not at fault. Creation is groaning as it waits to be renewed; waiting for God to recreate the new heavens and the new earth (see Revelation 21v1).
“Hide not your talents; they for use were made: What’s the use of a sundial in the shade.”
Benjamin Franklin
We need to be aware of the attractiveness of sin – it keeps teasing, tantalising and tempting – it tries to justify wrongful behaviour by saying things like, it’s not that bad, don’t be so prudish, it’s the 21st century everyone’s doing it, it’s not like you are deliberately hurting anyone, what harm can it do? All of which sounds very much like: “Did God really say you mustn’t eat from any tree in the garden? You won’t surely die!” – Satan always tries to put a comma where God puts a full stop!
Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
Time Management: Become effective by being selective, and never confuse activity with productivity.
“Conceit is a weird disease. It makes everybody sick except the one that has got it!”
Anon
Unequivocally, it is when we get involved personally with others that our evangelism begins to take off. Unless we stop theorizing and reach out and knock on the neighbour’s door, we’ll never get to the real nuts and bolts of witnessing. Lifestyle evangelism begins with talking to people who in some way touch our lives. It is not a superficial, quick relationship or an overnight coup. It involves time and sacrifice, and most of all in involves our giving ourselves.
Paul Little
Paul Little, How to Give Away Your Faith, 1988, Downers Grove Illinois, IVP, p.21
Victory comes through surrender.
In John chapter 12v21, Jesus and his disciples were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover and some Greeks came to Philip and said, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” – That’s what the unchurched are saying to us! Oh, they might not articulate it quite like that but that’s what they are really saying: – Wife, husband, parent, friend… that loved one you yearn to see walking with Christ, they want to see Jesus! Don’t be a Bible basher, don’t keep telling them they’re wrong; don’t nag at them night and day to repent and turn to Christ, don’t tell them first – love them first. “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” Let them see Jesus in you that they might be attracted to Jesus through you. – One man said, ‘I want to believe in Richard Dawkins but he’s not as happy as you are!’ – He ended up becoming a Christian.
The contemporary concept of retirement can’t be found in the Bible. Yes, you may retire from a job, but you never retire from work. As long as you’re alive, there’s always work God wants you to do. Again, rest, relaxation and retirement are worthy and well-deserved rewards for a life of hard work. But the truth is, as long as you’re alive God has something for you to do! And in doing it you’ll not only find joy and fulfilment, you’ll bless those around you too.
Bob Gass
Source: The UCB Word For Today, 5/7/2018
Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it becomes due.
“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
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.
Remember this: No one ever choked swallowing their pride!
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Corinthians 12v4-6). Same Spirit, same Lord, same God: these verses – reflecting the Trinity – show the diversity and unity of the different kinds of spiritual gifts. In the church there is meant to be unity in diversity. Just as the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is a community in diversity, so is the Christian church; we are a community in diversity. In the Church our unity means that our diversity does not become division. And our diversity means that our unity does not become uniformity.
Years ago, Charles Spurgeon said this on the subject of church unity: “To remain divided is sinful! Did not our Lord pray: ‘That they may be one, even as we are one’? A chorus of voices keep harping on the unity tune: what they’re saying is, ‘Christians of all doctrinal shades and beliefs must [be tolerant and] come together in one visible organization, regardless… Unite, unite!’ Such teaching is false, reckless and dangerous. Truth alone must determine our alignments. Truth comes before unity. Unity without truth is hazardous. Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17 must be read in its full context because He also prayed (v17): ‘Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth’. Only those sanctified through the Word can be one in Christ. To teach otherwise is to betray the Gospel.
Charles H. Spurgeon, The Essence of Separation, quoted in The Berean Call, July, 1992, p.4
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
D.L. Moody, the famous evangelist and forerunner to Billy Graham, said: “The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge, but to change our lives.” God speaks to us through the Bible; it’s like a guidebook for life: It tells us how we should live our lives; it answers many of life’s questions; it feeds us and encourages us; it warns us; it’s like a spiritual antibiotic; it provides protection against the world, the flesh and the devil; it has the power to change us… making us more and more like Christ.
Adapted from Stephen Gaukroger, First Steps: The handbook to following Christ, p.58
Joyce Meyer writes: “If you want to have joy, you must stop trying to figure everything out. You must stop rolling your problems around in your mind. You have to quit anxiously searching for an answer to your situation, trying to find out what you should do about it.
We reason and try to figure things out, asking “Why, God, why?” and ”When, God, when?” We want to know the answer to our situations so we won’t have to trust God. We don’t want surprises; we want to be in control because we are afraid that things won’t turn out the way we want them to.
“Why, God, why?” and ”When, God, when?” are two questions that can keep us from enjoying the lives Jesus died to give us. Many times we don’t understand what God is doing, but that’s where trust comes in. Nobody says we have to know everything; no one ever told us we have to understand everything. We need to be satisfied in knowing the One who does know everything: God. We need to learn to trust Him, not ourselves. Stop overthinking things. Trust means not needing to know the whys and when’s in order to be at peace.
Joyce Meyer, Trusting God Day By Day, devotional reading for September 26
FEAR = False Expectations Appearing Real
Courage isn’t the absence of fear it’s the mastery of it.
Ask yourself this question: ‘If hell is not a reality then what did Jesus come to save us from; why did Jesus bother coming at all? ‘I have not come to call the righteous but sinners,’ said Jesus. If sinners don’t really need rescuing, then why the rescue mission?’
Rico Tice
Rico Tice, Christianity Explored, p.28
Is prayer your steering wheel or is it your spare tyre?
Corrie Ten Boom
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!’
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
Time is a more valuable commodity than money. You can always find ways of getting more money but you can never get more time!
Forgiving means to pardon the unpardonable. Faith means believing in the unbelievable. And hoping means to hope when things are hopeless.
G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English essayist, novelist and poet
