Christians have a huge interest in the resurrection of Jesus being a historical event: we were staking our eternal future on it. Non-Christians have an equally huge interest vested in it not being historical: they are staking their eternal future on it. Every single person rests their entire eternal destiny on being correct in their understanding of Christ’s resurrection.
Mike McKinley
Mike McKinley, 2013, Passion, The Good Book Company, p.140
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), first lady
We are God’s instruments to do His work. When do you know the value of an instrument? When it’s in the hands of a master! So put your life in the Master’s hands and watch what He does with it.
1 Peter 3:18 tells us, “Christ died for sins once and for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” – Martin Luther explained it like this: “Our most merciful Father…sent his only Son into the world and laid upon him…the sins of all men saying: Be thou Peter that denier – Paul that persecutor, blasphemer and cruel oppressor – David that adulterer – that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise – that thief which hanged upon the cross – and briefly be thou the person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now comes the law and saith: I find him a sinner…therefore let him die upon the cross. And so he setteth upon him and killeth him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins.”
Teamwork makes the dream work… because teamwork divides the effort and multiplies the effect.
“Every minute spent in planning will save you two in execution.”
Henry Kaiser (1882-1967), US industrialist
One writer notes: ‘In the first chapters of Genesis, God is seen to be a designer, builder, gardener, teacher, caretaker, legislator, social worker and tailor.’
We see God at work in the Garden, and our calling and privilege as God’s image-bearers is to tuck in behind the divine purpose and to tend the Garden with him. The Garden is a precursor of the kingdom… This is where we can make a contribution, in tiny details every day, and it gives value to our work and our self-understanding.
We may note, however, that God does not [necessarily] equate work with money. Work does not have to be paid to be significant. Work in the voluntary sector is just as valuable. Childcare is major work, for either parent. The equation of work with the earning of money is a hard one to break, however, and we need to keep returning to the biblical picture of work as the expenditure of energy in the service of God and the world God loves.
– John Pritchard
[Note: John Pritchard, Living Faithfully, 2013, SPCK London, p.67]
Krish Kandiah, Twenty-four: Integrating faith and real life, Milton Keynes: Authentic, 2007, p.52
“Men need a forum in which to find their significance and make their contribution. That forum is work. Our propensity for work finds its origins at the very beginning of Creation when God prescribed work as the manner in which we would occupy our days. The purpose of work is to glorify God with the abilities He has given us. Men, made for work, must feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in their work, or contentment will elude them. If a man is unhappy in his work, he is unhappy.”
– Patrick Morley
Patrick Morley, The Man In The Mirror, 1997, USA Zondervan, p.212 and p.98
Worries are like babies, they grow larger when you nurse them.
God is not done with you yet.
We may look at our lives and question God’s plan and design, but we can rest assured that He is not finished with us yet! We see this same point time and time again as we read the Bible. God wasn’t done when Joseph was in prison, when Jeremiah was in the pit, or when Jonah was in the fish. He wasn’t done when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace, or when Daniel was cast into the lion’s den. He wasn’t done when Pharaoh was oppressing the Israelites, when Haman was plotting against Mordecai, or when Saul was persecuting Christians. He wasn’t done when Sarah’s womb was barren, when Ruth was a widow, or when the Virgin Mary was told she would bear a son. He was not done when Naaman had leprosy, when Bartimaeus was blind, or when Lazarus was dead. He was not done when Noah built an ark, when Aaron made a golden calf, or when David took a census.
And do not forget that He was not done when Jesus was rejected by his hometown, betrayed by Judas, deserted by his disciples, denied by Peter, tried by the Sanhedrin, condemned by Pilate, mocked by the soldiers, nailed to the cross, and buried in the tomb.
What more evidence do we need? God is not done with us. It does not matter where we are or where we have been—God is not done [with you yet].
Jason Meyer
'Don't Lose Heart' by Jason Meyer, reading plan on YouVersion (day 7 of 7)
Too many people are like the little boy sitting under the farmer’s apple tree. When the farmer asked him, ‘Son, are you trying to steal my apples?’, he replied, ‘No sir, I’m trying not to.’ His problem was being under the apple tree in the first place. Martin Luther said, ‘You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building nests in your hair.’
Word For Today, January 20, 2021
Church attendance increases life expectancy: Yale University concluded a twenty-eight year survey which found that people who go to church are happier, enjoy better health, and live longer than those who don’t. Imagine that! The survey, involving 28,000 older church attendees, found that they have lower blood pressure, less depression, and stronger immunity to disease. Furthermore, the non-churchgoers had a shortened life span, roughly equal to that of smokers. An interviewer asked an eighty-year-old woman, running on a treadmill, what her secret was. She said, “When you walk with God you have purpose, so you live longer and you have peace, so you live better.”
Bob Gass
Bob Gass, A Fresh The UCB Word For Today, 1998, New Jersey: Bridge Logos Publishers, p.95, devotion for April 5th
In Ecclesiastes 4:9, God tells us, “Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together” (NCV). “When you work as a team, you get so much more done. Plus, having good teammates alongside you is a whole lot more fun and less tiring! Picture it this way: Each of us is like a snowflake. On our own, we can’t make a big difference. However, when one fragile snowflake sticks with a lot of other snowflakes, they can stop traffic. Like snowflakes, we can make a big difference if we work together, each one of us simply doing our small part.”
Rick Warren
Rick Warren, Daily Hope devotional, 15/3/2018
As C.S. Lewis pointed out, ‘To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.’ As far as forgiving yourself is concerned, he wrote, ‘If God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than him.’
C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 2001, New York: Harper Collins p.158 and Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, 2007, Zondervan, p.1591 (and BiOY 2020, day 70)
In his book, Knowing God, J. I. Packer writes: ‘There is tremendous relief in knowing that God’s love for me is based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst in me. No discovery can disillusion Him in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself or quench His determination to bless me. There is great cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that others don’t see. Indeed He sees more corruption in me than I see in myself. Yet he wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order for me to realise this purpose.’
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.
By nature we are creatures who crave security. But in our fallen-ness we look for security that can be seen in bricks and mortar, in other people, or in the bank balance. Impressive though they are, these things can be swept away in a moment: only in God can we find real security.
Explore
Explore Bible notes, 31/8/2003
“Let failure become your teacher and not your undertaker.”
Zig Ziglar, motivational speaker and writer
F.R.O.G. = Fully Rely On God
Every day is a mountain top experience for me… It’s just that some days I’m on top of the mountain and other days the mountain is on top on me!
“Cowardice asks the question; ‘Is it safe?’ Consensus asks the question; ‘Is it popular?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’”
Martin Luther King (1929-1968), US Baptist minister and civil-rights leader.
“The first task of a leader is to define the mission.”
Peter F. Drucker, author and management expert
Life without a mission is an omission.
“Make all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”
John Wesley (1703-1791), English preacher and founder of Methodist Church
“Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it.”
– Dr Viktor E. Frankl, Nazi death camp survivor, author of Man’s Search For Meaning
Losers visualize the penalties of failure but winners visualize the rewards of success.
If there is hope in the future there is power in the present.
John C. Maxwell, (writer and trainer)
Spurgeon once said, “Prayer pulls the rope down below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly; others give only an occasional jerk of the rope. But he who communicates with heaven is the man who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously with all his might.”
Source: cited by Simon Guillbaud in For What It’s Worth, 2006, Oxford: Monarch Books, p.79
The wise men gave gifts to Jesus at Christmas, and at Christmas God gave to us the best gift we will ever get because… it is the most costly gift you’ll ever receive; it’s the only gift that lasts forever; and it is the gift you can enjoy for the rest of your life.
Did you know that most of the Bible was written by three people who had committed murder? Moses, David and Paul were all guilty of murder, but because all three of them were repentant, God forgave them and used their lives in amazing ways.
J. John
Source: J. John, Soul Purpose, p.78
In the Bible the word ‘repent’ could just as accurately be translated, ‘re-orientate’. Repentance is more than just saying sorry. So when Jesus says, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’ (Matthew 4:17) he doesn’t just mean say sorry and be forgiven. He means lead a new life.’
Stephen Cottrell
Source: Pilgrim: Turning To Christ, 2013, Church House Publishing, p.50
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
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Dr Martin Luther King, Jn. (1929-1968)
The most famous geyser in America is Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park. It is not the biggest geyser in America, nor is it the most powerful. What makes the geyser famous is its faithfulness! It runs like clockwork. Dependable. People appreciate dependability – even in a geyser. Do you have a reputation for being reliable?
Rick Warren
Rick Warren, God’s Power To Change Your Life, 2006, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, p.159
God is preparing us for what he has prepared us for. Being a Christian means we have been accepted and justified before God; but it doesn’t mean we suddenly become perfect – at least not straight away – it means we are being sanctified (made holy); we are being prepared and made ready for perfection again. Our trials and tribulations test and discipline us; they refine us. Like purifying gold in a furnace… when the dross is burned off and removed what’s revealed underneath is pure gold. – God is preparing us for what he has prepared us for.
“There is a growing mountain of evidence to suggest that worry is the chief contributor to depression, nervous breakdowns, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and early death. Stress kills. I have never known a man to die from hard work but I have known a lot who died from worry!”
Dr Charles Mayo, of the famous Mayo Clinic
“Storms make trees take deeper root.”
George Herbert (1593-1633), English poet.
A fish or a shark will never outgrow its environment. Put it into a pond and it will grow only a few feet, but put it in the ocean and it will grow to be a great white, 20 feet long. If you want to grow (or your people to grow) change your environment.
“There are only two options regarding commitment; you’re either in or you’re out. There is no such thing in life as in-between.”
Pat Riley, US basketball coach, author and speaker
Viscountess Astor (1879-1964), the first woman politician to sit in the British House of Commons had a long-standing feud with Winston Churchill. The following discourse is an extract from one of their many heated debates.
Viscountess Astor: “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee!”
Winston Churchill: “Madam, if I were your husband I would drink it!”
“I think most men could recruit six pall-bearers, but hardly anyone has a friend he can call at 2:00a.m. … If you want a real friend, you will probably need to be the one who takes the initiative.”
Patrick Morley
“The only investments I ever made which have paid constantly increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord.”
J. L. Kraft (head of Kraft Cheese)
A goal properly set is already halfway reached.
The eight ‘P’ process for achievement:
Plan Purposefully
Prepare Prayerfully
Proceed Positively
Pursue Persistently
“Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.”
Horace Mann (1796-1859), American educational reformist.
Do a good deed today: Mug someone with kindness.
The Bible: read from it, feed from it, heed from it, lead from it…and succeed from it.
To err is human, to repeat it is stupid.
One of the most famous statements Jesus ever made about himself is found in John 14v6: “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” When it comes to us coming to the God of heaven, Jesus does not give us advice or directions, but himself. His message is not “Go that way” but “Come to me!” He is not a path or a system, He is what we need. Notice too that it is an exclusive claim: only Jesus is these things. [Jesus is the only way to the Father; his Word is the truth and accepting it brings life.] What is possible through him is possible nowhere else. Jesus is not one option among many – a way to find meaning and direction alongside other equally valid options. What Jesus gives us in himself is definitive – the truth, the life. There is (literally) an eternity of difference between saying “the” and “a”.
Explore Bible notes 01/06/2017
“When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the centre of the ring, fight one more round! When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your arms to come on guard, fight one more round! When you nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you’re so tired you wish your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep – don’t quit – fight one more round!”
James J. Corbett (1866-1933) US boxer and world heavyweight champion
“He that would live in peace and ease must not speak all he knows, nor judge all he sees.”
Benjamin Franklin
The water of baptism is a symbol of a grave in which we identify with Jesus Christ in His death. Going under the water says that we deserved to die for our sins, but trust that He died instead of us. Under the water, we identify with His burial and declare all our sins buried (Micah 7:19). Coming out of the water we declare that as Jesus was raised from the dead, He gives us a new life. 2 Corinthians 5:15 puts it like this: “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
–
Paul Adams
Never doubt in the darkness what God has shown you in the light. Insecurity is the devil’s work.
‘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
Oswald Chambers wrote: “It is not only wrong to worry, it’s infidelity, because worrying means that we do not think God can look after the practical details of our lives.”
Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, (2000 edition), Worcester: Oswald Chambers Publications, p.150
“Spending time in God’s presence is like sitting in a room filled with sweet-smelling perfume. If we sit there long enough, we take the fragrance with us when we leave. It will be in out clothing, in our hair and even in our very skin.”
Joyce Meyer
“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
It was whilst commemorating the Passover feast and eating the meal of remembrance in the upper room (being literally Jesus’ Last Supper) that Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it and then gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body given for you; do this is remembrance of me.” After supper he took a cup of wine and gave it to his disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:19-20). These are hugely significant words and actions that tell us Jesus’ own view of his death. In his commentary John Stott mentions three particular truths that stand out:
John Stott, Through The Bible Through The Year, Oxford: Candle Books (2006), p.233
Lady Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntington, once told John Wesley that she was saved by an “m”. Wesley wanted to know what she meant. She then quoted from 1 Corinthians 1v26: “Brothers and sisters think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.” – “God says not many of noble birth can be saved. He did not say not any,” she replied.
Smart lady!
Jesus said: “Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:32-33 NLT). “If you seek first the kingdom of wealth, you’ll worry over every dollar. Seek first the kingdom of health, and you’ll sweat every blemish and bump. Seek first the kingdom of popularity, and you’ll relive every conflict. Seek first the kingdom of safety, and you’ll jump at every crack of the twig. But seek first the Kingdom of God and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
Max Lucado
Max Lucado, 2009, Fearless, Nashville Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, p.51
“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.”
William James (1842-1910), American philosopher and psychologist
“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
“Optimists are always right in the end, but so are pessimists. The choice is yours.”
Harvey Mackay, US businessman and author
No amount of success at the office can compensate for failure at home.
The most common command in the Bible is ‘Do not fear.’ It occurs 366 times in the Bible (one for each day and an extra one to cover leap years).
“It’s not how we handle the good days that determines how well we do in life. It’s how we handle the bad days.”
Rich DeVos, co-founder of Amway Corporation
Faithful One, so unchanging,
Ageless One, you’re my rock of peace.
Lord of all, I depend on you.
I call out to You,
Again and again.
I call out to You,
Again and again.
You are my rock in times of trouble.
You lift me up
When I fall down.
All through the storm
Your love is the anchor
My hope is in You alone.
Brian Doërksen
God wants you to grow! He created the very idea of growth. The Talmud says that every blade of grass has an angel bending over it, whispering, “Grow, grow.”
– John Ortberg
“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970)
If Jesus hadn’t risen from the dead we probably would never have heard of him.
If you wish to be great in wealth, power and self-esteem then learn to be great in the service to many.
“People will work eight hours a day for a good salary, ten hours a day for a good boss, and twenty-four hours a day for a good cause.”
John Maxwell
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
My mother would have said, “Pee or get off the pot! You have sat here long enough contemplating the next move, it’s time to act.”
T. D. Jakes
Winning starts with beginning.
Dr Robert H. Schuller (US clergyman and writer)
Do not wait. The time will never be just right. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.
Napoleon Hill (1883-1970), writer
Some people are so always looking ahead that they put everything off until tomorrow.
“I lose my temper, but it’s all over in a minute,” said the student. “So is the hydrogen bomb,” I replied. “But think of the damage it produces!”
George Sweeting
Like putting a jumper on inside out, sometimes we get things the wrong way around: We think, ‘when God blesses me then I can be fruitful.’ But it’s the other way around: When we love others and seek to be fruitful, especially in the local church, it’s then that God blesses us and we become more fruitful.
The Bible is the inspired word of God, and the Bible’s prophetic teaching is ‘probably the most direct evidence for the special involvement of God in this book’. “For example, the exact manner of Jesus’ death was foretold in the Old Testament (Isaiah 53); the place of his burial and even the place of his birth (Micah 5:2). Suppose Jesus had been a con man wanting to fulfil all these prophecies. It would have been a bit late by the time he discovered the place in which he was supposed to have been born!”
Nicky Gumbel, Alpha: Questions of Life, 2007, Eastbourne: Kingsway, p.33
Aristotle said: “Character is about the decisions a person makes when the choice is not obvious.”
Raising your children well is a lot like teaching them to ride a bike. The secret lies in knowing when to hold on and when to let go.
It has been well said that the entrance fee to the Christian life is free (because Christ paid for it), but the annual subscriptions costs us everything we have.
Remember those exhilarating early days of your Christian life when you couldn’t get enough of God’s Word, you couldn’t wait to be with God’s people, and you couldn’t find enough time to do all the praying and seeking God’s face that you wanted to? What happened? Work, bills, kids, chores, busyness… Life crowded out the Lord! It’s easy enough to diagnose the problem, but what’s the answer? Well, I think the answer is to fall in love with Jesus Christ all over again. If you do that, you’ll find time for Him. So instead of asking the Lord to give you more hours in the day, pray that He will give you more love in your heart for Him. That’s a prayer He will answer.
Adapted from Tony Evans, Time To Get Serious, p.201
Talk sweetly. That way, if you end up having to eat your own words they won’t be so bitter to swallow.
There are two types of people who don’t say very much: those who talk a little and those who talk a lot!
“To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”
Elbert Hubbard
A Christian is the only person in the world who, on their deathbed can still be optimistic!
“God gives us the ingredients for our daily bread, but he expects us to do the baking.”
William A. Ward
“Above all else, what distinguishes top performers in every field is their enthusiasm and persistence in the face of setbacks.”
Daniel Goleman, psychologist
Cited in The UCB Word For Today, 11/5/2003
“Atheists affirm there is no God. Yet they cannot hold this position dogmatically. For us to be able to make this type of statement with authority, we would have to know the universe in its entirety and to possess all knowledge. If anyone had these credentials, then, by definition, he would be God.” – Josh McDowell & Don Stewart
“Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings to greet the dawn, while it’s still dark!”
James S. Hewitt
If God is for us who can be against us?
Romans 8:31 NIV
You can’t earn God’s forgiveness: If you gave someone you loved a birthday gift and they insisted on paying for it, how would you feel? Hurt? Upset? That’s how God feels when you try to ‘earn’ his forgiveness.
Bob Gass
Source: The UCB Word For Today, 26/10/17
The Bible tells us that God created mankind is his own image… male and female he created them. In all of creation we are different; we are unique because we are made in the image and likeness of God, who created mankind to have dominion and to take care of the earth – with God, but under God’s direction. And because we are made in God’s image we have also been endowed with a personality, character and freewill, the ability to choose for ourselves. But mankind chose wrong; we chose to ignore God and to do things our own way, and we messed up… that’s the problem – what the Bible calls sin – that separates us from God!
“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbour he is making for, no wind is the right wind!”
Seneca (4BC-65AD), Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist.
Spread a little happiness where you go, not when!
Source: Bits & Pieces Magazine, Economics Press
An optimist laughs to forget. A pessimist forgets to laugh.
Let’s not forget the famous passage in Matthew 28:18–20, known as the Great Commission, where Jesus commanded us to: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ We are told not just to make converts and baptise them, we are told to make disciples and to teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us to do; and that includes healing the sick. Jesus commanded us to heal the sick.
Now, having said that, it is not always God’s will that sick people are healed. Sometimes it is God’s will that people are healed and sometimes it’s not. We don’t know why that is; it’s all part of the divine mystery, but one thing I regularly find to be true is the more people we pray for, the more people are healed. The apostle John helps us to get a proper perspective on this issue: In 1 John 5v14-15 he says, ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.’ Again, sometimes it’s God’s will that people are healed and sometimes it’s not. One of the consequences of the Fall is that sickness, disability, disease and death are a reality for everyone. And unless Jesus returns beforehand, everyone who is alive today will eventually die as a direct result of some kind of health related issue, even if we just wear out. Again, it is not always God’s will that people are healed but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray for healing. Even when people are not healed, they are often still touched by the compassion and love of God, or by the presence and peace of God, ministered to them through the one who is praying.
R. Ian Seymour, Empowered Personal Evangelism, Weybridge: New Wine Press (2014), p.177
Cheers: “To your good health, old friend: May you live for a thousand years and may I be there to count them.”
Robert Smith Surtees (1803-1864), English journalist and novelist